WOWZERS! I finally finished this piece. I had posted this on here about 2 years ago, but it was only about 3/4 of the way completed. so I took it town because it always bugged me having a completely unfinished piece in my gallery.

Now heres the story on this painting as it is to date the most detailed and realistic piece I've done (even though I used a ref. pic for the image, the amount of detail I put into it has even boggled my own mind), and I probably dedicated the most amount of time to it overall. It started of about 2.5 years ago, maybe 3 now. Worked on it on and off for a short time and got about half of it done around that time, upon which I put it to the side and moved onto other work. fast forward a year, and with it constantly taunting me from the depths of my mind that it wasn't finished I decided to bring it out again and continue work on it. Continued working on it for a little while longer amongst other work and managed to get it to nearly 3/4 of the way completed. then once again I brushed it off and put it the side in favor of other work. Now it just sat stagnant on my hard drive for another year almost. Until just recently when I said I only have a little bit left to finish on it I might as well just finish it off. So I buckled down and finished it. Just put the finishing touches on it tonight.

Overall I'm very happy to finally have this piece done because now I don't ever have to worry about looking through my .psd docs and seeing this in there and getting irritated at myself for not having it completed yet.

I think the overall finished piece came out quite well, and I hope you all enjoy it.

Ref pic was a low res screencap from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Photoshop cs2 to start then cs3 to finish. Wacom tablet.

Worked on it on and off for about 3 years, but in total only dedicated around 80-100 hours on it, in total time actually working on the painting. because It was worked on to start for a few hours a day for a couple weeks, then put off for like a year and again worked on for a few hours a day for a week or 2. then finally put the final bit of time into it over the past 2 days.

If you want to see a step by step process of how I did this you can right here [link]

thanks again. yeah i dedicated an immense amount of time to it to make it as photo real as i possibly could. I'm glad you like it, and also glad to hear you thought it was a photo at first, because I was trying to paint it so real it tricked the eye. so thank you for the support.

no problem you are a skilled artist, and a inspiration for others on deviantart I keep on going in the hope of becoming that good one day to Im glad to hear it was supposed to look like a photo, 'couse that means you did a neat job on it ^^ I will never be able to draw realistic faces I guess, at least, it will be a long time from now

well, we are here on this page to support eachother on the way to the top, right ?? ^^ Im glad my words made you happy

I truly appreciate your kind words. But don't get yourself down about drawing faces. it took me a very long time to even be able to get them done semi-decently.

my best advice to you is to just keep on practicing, keep drawing, and try to do it as much as you can, because practice makes perfect. I'd recommend carry a small sketchbook around with you if you go out places and try to quickly sketch some of the people/things you see around you, this will help your fundamentals a lot, it also comes in handy if you have an idea pop up in your head and you want to quickly jot it down onto paper so you don't forget about it. Also If you'd like some helpful books for drawing faces/anatomy I'd suggest reading up on books by either Andrew Loomis or George Bridgman. Books from both of these artists really helped me out immensely when I was younger and still learning the basics. They both break down the forms of the face/body to you and explain it in thorough detail. They are really great books to learn more from and inhance your skillset, and when it comes down to knowing proper anatomy/face structure there is a lot to learn and these books will help benefit you a great deal if you just take the time to study, and practice.

Just keep on drawing and practice practice practice and you will only get better.

wow, thanks for the feedback I cant belive you took the time to write that for me Practicing makes perfection, I guess, and you are absolutly right, carring a sketchbook around is a good idea, I tried it for a while, but unfortenatly, I kind of freaked over all the people trying to see what I was drawing x) I guess I should try it again, just hiding better

hey not a problem at all. I always try to help out other aspiring artists. Practice definitely makes perfect, and I know what you mean about people always wanting to see what you are drawing when you carry a sketchbook around, it can sometimes be a little nerve wracking, especially if you don't really want to show them, but its just one of the small things you may have to put up with when doing that. The way I look at it, its a small annoyance to put up with, but putting up with that small gripe will give you lots of extra drawing time you might normally lose out on, and if you really don't want people to ask you what you are drawing, you can stealthily draw in public as well, just sit at a table/bench/chair slightly away from everything and just use your sketchbook as an observation tool of what you see, you don't have to draw when you're surrounded by people who just want to look at your sketchbook. Persoanlly I find places like the mall, parks, and restaurants/coffee shops to be great places to quickly jot down some sketches while you are there, but if you don't want to go out and draw in public then the easiest way to improve is just by studying things around your house, do drawings/paintings of things in your room. Really lifedrawing is one of the best fundamentals to learn, and drawing from life will help you pick up shapes and forms in objects better, so when you draw from imagination you can put what you learned from the life drawings into effect. But just keep up your head up and just push forward and keep on drawing, don't stop practicing and studying in art, because when it comes to art, there will always be something new to learn in it. I know this for a fact because on a day to day basis, even with drawing/painting nearly my whole life, it seems like everyday I draw something I learn something new. Its a constant learning experience and you just have to keep at it and never give up.